In Defense of Godzilla 1998 (part 1)

by Jerry Peterson

This year marks the 25th anniversary of Tri-Star's Godzilla, and I couldn't let the occasion pass without saying something about one of my favorite versions of Godzilla. This is going to be a multi-part series of articles, as I set about tackling all of the consistent complaints that have plagued this kaiju over the last quarter of a century. I'll be focusing only on Godzilla (G98) himself, because if you ask most people, they'll say the movie overall is okay- it's just the monster they have a problem with. So let's get into it, starting with:

1. It's just Jurassic Park

    Yes, Tri-Star's Godzilla came out in the wake of the first two Jurassic Park movies. And yes, there are a couple of moments that pay homage to Jurassic Park. But generally, when people make this statement, they're criticizing the way G98 carries himself. He doesn't walk upright and drag his tail on the ground like Toho Studio's original Godzilla did over the course of 22 movies, beginning in 1954.

    Instead, his posture is that of a proper theropod. He walks with a horizontal stance and his tail acts as a counterweight, that hovers off the ground. Jurassic Park is credited with destroying the mainstream myth of the T-Rex that walks upright, which had dominated movies since 1918. That was the year that the film, "The Ghost of Slumber Mountain" was released, and audiences were treated to the first ever Tyrannosaurus Rex on the silver screen. For the next 75 years the image of the upright-walking T-Rex would dominate people's imaginations. Even in the same year that Jurassic Park was released, we were still getting depictions of the tail-dragging T-Rex in movies like Carnosaur.

Every Theropod before 1993.

Every Theropod after 1993.

    So when people say that G98 is just Jurassic Park, what they're saying is that he walks like the T-Rexes seen in that movie, and that he's just a regular T-Rex with spines. What they're forgetting though, are those 75 preceding years, where Toho's Godzilla walked exactly like every movie depiction of the T-Rex up to that point. I always felt that Toho's Godzilla would have carried himself horizontally as well, if people in 1954 were aware of how theropods actually balanced and carried themselves. 

    In fact, Toho did attempt to depict their Godzilla's stance more realistically a couple times with varying degrees of success. Monster designer, Shinji Nishikawa’s concept art for the Godzilla-saurus in 1991's "Godzilla vs King Ghidorah" reveals that Toho was open to the idea, though it apparently got nixed by the time cameras rolled. They tried again in 2001's "Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack." The Godzilla suit that appears on-screen was to have a horizontal posture, but the suit proved unwilling to cooperate. I imagine if Toho had been able to pull off the horizontal posture for their Godzilla in those movies, that this wouldn't be a sticking point for so many fans.

Nishikawa, S. “Toho's Godzilla-saurus”

[concept art] 1991

   In short, Godzilla has always been a T-Rex with spines. He walked like a theropod, when he was created in 1954 and he still walked like a theropod, when he was reimagined in 1998.The only thing that changed was our understanding of how those dinosaurs actually stood and walked.

Anyway, that's all for now.

Next up: Atomic Breath or Power Breath?

The Last Voyage of Jason Voorhees

By Jerry Peterson

I have a soft spot for the oft-maligned 8^th outing of the Friday the 13^th movies, “Jason Takes Manhattan” (JTM). It takes a non-stop barrage of flak for pulling a bait and switch. Barring a couple brief minutes in Times Square, the movie instead takes place on a boat for the first half, and then in some filthy back alleys, sewers and subways that could be from any city, anywhere for the rest of the runtime.

But I still enjoy this movie, and still watch it regularly. JTM marks the last time that Paramount Pictures would make a Friday the 13^th movie, before selling the rights to New Line Cinema. This is the last one that still feels like a  classic Friday flick, complete with all the cliches the series helped establish.

And also some memorable shots like this

JTM’s place in time is unique. Released on July 28^th of 1989, this wasn’t just the last Friday movie that Paramount would make; it was also the last one made during the 1980s. And as the decade came to a close, there was a palpable sense that the slasher genre of horror movies had also reached its end. In the early 90s, almost all of the major faces of 80s horror were given “final” sendoffs such as Freddy’s Dead in 1991, Jason Goes to Hell in 1993 and Hellraiser: Bloodline in 1996. Instead of seeing sequels every year or every other year, the once great horror titans would go dormant and see only rare, sporadic appearances. Slasher movies had officially gone the way of westerns and musicals.

So aside from JTM’s status as the last Friday the 13^th made by Paramount in the 80s, what makes it special? Despite the change in locale, Jason stalks and kills like usual, and the cramped confines of the rusty ship, Lazarus, make for some interesting and visually claustrophobic settings. 

Writer/director, Rob Hedden, said that he had been given permission to kill off Jason “in a way that makes it feel like he’s really dead and he’s not coming back.” With that in mind, the main character, Rennie, keeps encountering the spirit of a young Jason. He first appears looking like a normal boy but gets progressively more malformed and zombie-like each time she sees him. Ghost Jason keeps crying for help, while also attacking Rennie.

Jason’s soul appears as the boy he was

Young Jason gets progressively deformed

Jason is finally defeated by a tidal wave of toxic waste that reduces him to the normal boy Rennie saw during her first vision. I always took this to mean that somehow the spirit of the innocent boy that Jason had once been, was now free from the monster that he had become. And delivering on Paramount’s request, this death scene was so permanent, that when New Line Cinema took a crack at a sequel with part 9, they didn’t even try to show how Jason came back to life.

Some days, it’s just not worth it, y’know?

That’s one thing I always appreciated about the Paramount Friday movies; despite how fast and loose continuity is between them, there was always a straight line that went through the first 8, connecting them. Heavy use of flashbacks and recaps always get the audience up to speed, so we know exactly where we are upon starting any given movie. Jason is always where we left him in the previous movie. That all stops with part 9. When that movie begins, he’s a full grown adult again, already back to stomping around Crystal Lake. No explanation given. 

On a final note, I have to mention the ending. This is the only time that the last two survivors are able to walk away on their own with no last-second, sequel-baiting jump-scare, no ominous final shot suggesting the rise of a copycat killer, no eerie music, no nothing. For the first and only time ever in Friday the 13^th, we get a happy ending. And as Rennie and her boyfriend walk off into the night, upbeat pop music begins to play. It feels like the movie itself is saying, “Thanks for coming along on the ride all these years.” Despite the fact that New Line Cinema and later Platinum Dunes would try to continue the exploits of Jason Voorhees, it is Friday the 13^th part 8: Jason Takes Manhattan, that feels like the true and proper ending to the series to me.

Confused About Silent Hill: Revelation

by Jerry Peterson

When adapting the first Silent Hill videogame into a movie, some key changes were made to the source material. Most of those changes were cosmetic, such as having nearly all the monsters lifted from the second game instead of the original. However, when it came to handling the Order of Valtiel, the motivations of the cult were radically altered from the game. If Silent Hill were to be a single, stand-alone movie, these changes wouldn’t affect any future stories. The movie as-is works. However, Silent Hill: Revelation is a confused sequel, trying to navigate its way between the conflicting motives of the cult as seen in the videogames and the first movie.

The stories of the first and third games center around Cheryl Mason and Alessa Gillespie; two halves of the same soul (the second game is an unrelated side-story).

In the games, Alessa is the prisoner of The Order, which wants to keep her alive but in a suffering state. The spirit of their dark god, Valtiel, incubates within her, feeding off of her hatred and pain. Valtiel’s powers manifest through Alessa as seen whenever the town is transformed into a nightmare world. The Order encourages these displays of dark power and even command the surreal monsters of Silent Hill at times. Alessa uses her power to split her soul in two, and creates a doppelganger of herself. This twin is found by Harry Mason and taken away from Silent Hill to live a normal, happy life as Cheryl Mason. The ultimate goal of The Order is to locate Cheryl and  rejoin the two halves of Alessa’s soul, so they can restore the full power of their dark god. 

Cheryl and Alessa

The Order as seen in the first movie is a cult of witch hunters. They fear Alessa and her dark powers. They are not in command of the monsters that Alessa creates. They seek refuge from the darkness in a church and pray for the light to deliver them from evil. They speak of purification and fighting demons. It’s clear that they are trapped in a purgatory of their own making, and want to kill Alessa to free themselves from torment. As with the games, Alessa has split her soul in half and put her last shred of innocence into a child named Sharon Da Silva. The Order figures that if they can kill Sharon, they’ll be able to weaken Alessa, destroy her too, and free themselves.

Cult leader, Christabella, prays before a mural of a witch burning.

After the events of both the first game and movie, Harry takes Cheryl/Sharon into hiding, and renames her Heather to hide their identities. This is where Revelation picks up.

This movie adapts the story of the third game, but runs into some problems due to the differing portrayals of the cult. Sister Claudia, the new leader of the The Order, reveals that they are now trying to resurrect the dark god, Valtiel. This is in direct contrast to the cult of the first movie that was devoted to fighting demons using ritual sacrifice to prevent demonic forces from consuming them. 

Claudia explains that Heather has, "been chosen many years ago to be the vessel. The god can only be born through your flesh. And then we will be free from this prison to cleanse the world of its sins. And all we need is your body. You have the seal of Metatron. With it, I can summon the god." 

So do they want to escape from the nightmarish hellscape of Silent Hill or cover the world in it? Or do they think Valtiel will cleanse the world in a way that's more to their liking? And why? If they think they can somehow control Valtiel, then it's never mentioned or shown. They can’t even control Alessa, a mere child when she overtook the town.

Not sure Christabella would approve of the new decor, Claudia.

The confusion is due to Revelation trying to create an amalgamation of the cult seen in the games and the cult seen in the first movie. If Revelation stuck with the original reasoning of killing Sharon/Heather and Alessa to free themselves from purgatory, it would've made more sense and the plot would still be the same. At the very least, Claudia's group could have been established as a splinter group of extremists, that had turned their backs on The Order and chosen to worship the demons. 

There is one moment, when Heather arrives in Silent Hill, that made me think this might be the case. Upon walking into town, she spots a few charred corpses that have been burned at the stake. At the base of one stake is a sign that reads “TRAITOR.” It could indicate that there’s infighting going on within The Order; perhaps a clash between traditional members and those taking their religion in a new direction. Or it could mean nothing. What this person did to be labeled a traitor is never explained. 

I still enjoy Revelation, but it feels like it's trying to be a sequel to the videogame instead of the movie. The first movie did a 180' on the motivations of The Order and for better or worse, the sequel should've stuck with that. Silent Hill is infamous for raising more questions than it answers, and by mashing the videogame and movie versions of the cult together, it only serves to create more confusion. 

World 6-3

by Jerry Peterson

Remakes pose a tricky dilemma. How do you find that perfect balance between giving people what they loved about the original while presenting it in a fresh way? How far can you take a remake before it no longer resembles the source material? For my purposes, I'm going to examine "Super Mario All Stars", a remake that did almost everything right, and what I learned from its one big misstep.

Super Mario Bros. was released in 1985 for the 8-bit Nintendo Entertainment System. In 1993 Nintendo compiled Mario’s major NES outings onto a single cartridge for the 16-bit Super Nintendo. Each game on the cart was given a graphical overhaul. The original Mario benefited the most, seeing as how its graphics were the most dated and blocky looking. The results were amazing.

From left to right: SNES 16-bit remake and NES 8-bit original.

Look at this first picture. Notice how, despite the graphical improvements and the addition of a scrolling parallax background, all the core elements are the same. There’s the blue sky, puffy white clouds, and leafy green platforms. The color palette remains the same too: blue, green, white, and tan. You can look at this and immediately see how the remake is an enhanced version of the original.

The SNES sees the forest for the trees.

This picture taken from world 2-1 may seem to deviate from the original, but in fact, it is again taking the established elements from the 8-bit original and expanding on them. Instead of a few stray trees, there are several, and all of the same type as in the original.

Brick wall becomes Epic wall.

World 8-3 always stood out for its massive red brick wall that dominated the level. No other level was like it. The All Stars edition took this element and made it even bigger. Now it’s not just a simple brick wall- it’s a massive castle wall, complete with steel gates, loopholes, and crenels. Whereas the wall in the original was broken up into segments, the All Stars wall spans the length of the whole level.

What the...

And then there’s World 6-3. The white brick of the castle, the night sky, and the off-white platforms were unlike any other level in the whole game. The lack of color was the one thing that made World 6-3 truly unique and memorable. I always thought that maybe everything was covered in freshly fallen snow, or the castle was made of marble. The platforms might be white trees or luminescent plants. It inspired my imagination. When I saw the remake's take on World 6-3, I was let down. They took the one unique feature of 6-3, the one thing that made it stick in my mind for years, and they got rid of it. In its place we have a level indistinct from other treetop levels like World 3-3.

Let's paint the Taj Mahal red while we're at it.

Barring this one level, I love the All Stars remake of Super Mario Bros. Graphically, it’s superior to the original in every way. What I took away from all this was, hopefully, a little bit of insight as to why some remakes work while others fall short. When it worked, the game remained true to its roots, despite the improved visuals. It took the source material and expanded on the ideas and concepts and made them stronger. When it didn’t work, it abandoned core elements and replaced them with something entirely different. The All Stars edition of World 6-3 didn’t enhance what was already there. It replaced the stark black and white level with something completely different.

I surmise that the same is true of most remakes. Shaking things up and keeping old ideas fresh is great, but not at the cost of losing what made them worthwhile in the first place. Take what's already there: explore the concepts and ideas, expand on them, improve them. That's the way to do a proper remake.

Jason Voorhees: Creampuff

by Jerry Petersson

Another Friday the 13th weekend has come and gone. For a lot of people, this is a good excuse to pop in a Jason flick and watch the hockey-masked killer rampage around Camp Crystal Lake. For gamers, it’s an opportunity to reminisce about one of the worst games ever made for the NES; Friday the 13th by LJN. There’s plenty of complaints to be made from the dull graphics to the repetitive music. Over the years this game has earned a reputation for being brutally difficult. If you watched Game Informers’ Replay segment this weekend, you no doubt saw four grown men felled by the merciless Jason. But I’m here to say that the difficulty of this game is a myth.

Here’s how I play Friday the 13th. First, of the six camp counselors you can choose from, pick Mark. He’s the fastest and can jump the highest. His agility makes it easy to jump over the roving zombies and other enemies. Most of the time, I just ignore them rather than fight them off. If you bother to explore the caves, Mark is an absolute must. The other camp counselors can’t jump high enough to make it from platform to platform. And if you run into Jason out in the open, you’re going to need Mark to jump when he charges you.

Mark is your go-to guy.

If Jason is attacking someone clear across the lake, and you don’t have the time to run there, just jump into the nearest cabin. From there you can take control of the other counselors regardless of location. Inside the cabins, everyone moves at the same speed, so using Mark exclusively isn’t necessary here. Now here’s the important part; when you’re fighting Jason in the cabins, it is absolutely vital that you dodge diagonally when he attacks. Running back and forth is pointless, because he will catch you. All it takes is about four good hits and Jason can kill one of your campers. But if you dodge, and then quickly counterstrike, you can beat him without ever taking a single hit. And that's all there is to it. It really is that easy! Jason's pattern never changes. He just speeds up a bit in later rounds, so this technique works all through the game.

Dodge and then strike back!

Friday the 13th is a bad game no matter how you look at it. Even when you master dodging and start winning with ease, the game just plods along at a sluggish pace. Beating Jason (and the game) becomes less of a nail-biting experience, and more of an inevitability so long as you’re willing to stick with it for the many, many run-ins with Jason. But for all the things this game is guilty of, jacking up the difficulty isn’t one of them.

Of course, there's no way to avoid this cheap shot.

Krueger Kombat!

by Jerry Peterson

I felt a tingle of excitement, when I heard that Freddy Krueger was going to be in “Mortal Kombat.” I grew up watching the dream stalker’s exploits, and he’s long been one of my favorite movie monsters. So imagine my disappointment when I saw that the Freddy in the game was not the original played by Robert Englund, but Jackie Earle Haley’s from the atrocious 2010 remake. Don’t get me wrong. Haley’s performance was one of the few good things about that movie. Even so, he's a far cry from the Freddy I wanted to see. Maybe it wasn’t so bad though. As I watched footage of Freddy slicing his way through the likes of Sub-Zero, Scorpion and all the rest, I realized something. He may have Haley’s looks, but he’s got Englund’s moves! From his quotes to his attacks to his gestures, this is the original Freddy in spirit.

When it came to naming Freddy’s special attacks and finishing moves for “Mortal Kombat”, the MK team looked to inspiration from Englund’s Krueger. “The power glove,” “What a rush,” “Tell ‘em Freddy sent ya’,” and “Welcome to my nightmare,” are all quips spoken by the original.

Freddy's fatalities likewise take their inspiration from the original Krueger. One fatality has him pulling a defeated kombatant down into the ground. Moments later a geyser of blood erupts and showers the area in red. This gruesome death will be instantly recognizable to anyone that saw Johnny Depp meet his end in the 1984 original. His second fatality has him summoning a steel door from the ground. The door opens to reveal a fiery furnace that he throws his opponent into, much like he did to Kristen in "Dream Master.". When a Babality is performed on Freddy, a black stroller appears, which harkens back to the evil stroller from “Dream Child.” Thankfully baby Freddy is much more adorable in this game than he was in that movie.

This is what the stroller (and Freddy) looked like before getting burnt.

Of his regular moves, the one that put a grin on my face was his throw, where he grabs the opponent and then makes the “shh” motion with his bladed finger up to his mouth. I was reminded of Phillip’s nightmare in “Dream Warriors” where classic Krueger did the same thing. His flying claw projectile could be lifted from the fatal blow that killed Rick in “Dream Master.”

Shh! 

And finally, Freddy’s ending in Mortal Kombat recreates the poster art of the very first movie. They could have come up with something more in line with the shadowy close-up of Krueger that adorns the poster for the remake, but they chose to homage the original.

One of these things is not like the other. . .

For everything that was borrowed from the original Freddy, it begs the question why the MK team didn’t just render the likeness of Englund’s Krueger. I suspect the answer is as simple as Warner Bros. wanting to promote the newer movie and drive dvd sales. I would venture to guess that the MK team wanted the original Freddy but were given a mandate by Warner Bros. to use the current one. Whatever the case, they've made Haley’s new Freddy cool by injecting him with the style and moves of the original.

Top 10 Megatrons

by Jerry Peterson

The name Megatron carries a lot of weight. For those of us that grew up in the 80s, Megatron was in the upper echelon of villainy. With the decline of the Transformers brand, the name faded into obscurity until Michael Bay's live action movies made Megatron a household name again. For those that had never seen the original show, Bay's towering metal nightmare established himself as the one, true Megatron. Contrary to popular belief, Megatron has been very active since his demise in 1986 and Bay's Megatron was only the most recent in a long line. There have been no less than 10 versions of Megatron to conquer the TV and movie screens! These are my personal favorites ranked from worst (#10) to best (#1!). I am only considering those Megatrons that have appeared in film or television. If I were to include all the rest from video games and comics, this list could go on forever. Now without further ado, here are. . .

THE TOP 10 MEGATRONS!

10. Transformers: Energon (2004)
voiced by David Kaye
1st appearance: “Megatron Resurrected”

In the sequel to TF: Armada Megatron returns from the dead. And like a rotting zombie, he has a serious need for braaains! Of all the Megatrons on this list, Energon’s Megatron is the only one I actively dislike. Out of 51 plodding, aimless episodes he had exactly four stand-out moments. Fifty-one episodes with a running time of 22 minutes each. That’s 1122 minutes in which Megatron could have done something noteworthy. Instead he gets four moments.
He spent the remaining 1118 minutes being the most bland, uninteresting, one-dimensional caricature of a cartoon villain ever. When he wasn’t lazing about on his throne all day, he was routinely beating his own troops for daring to think on their own and take initiative.
Not even the talented David Kaye could imbue this uninspired tyrant with a personality. This guy has no brains. No intelligence. He might as well be a comet hurtling through space, threatening Earth for all the personality he displays. He needs to crawl back into the grave! Onto the next!


9. Transformers: Robots in Disguise (2001)
voiced by Daniel Riordan
1st appearance: “Battle Protocol!”

Ugh, this guy. RiD Megatron ranks above Energon Megatron because he managed to be slightly more entertaining and he didn’t beat on his troops. . . too much. That said, he also spends all his time in the comfort of his mobile base watching TV. Not even joking. On the off chance that he does participate in a battle, don’t expect him to stick around long. Just look at that glossy finish on his armor! Do you know how long it takes to buff out scorch marks? Like, forever!!
You know what else is really cool about RiD Megatron? His voice. It’s cool how no matter what, he’s always yelling with absolutely no variance at all. Whether he’s giving orders, shouting insults, wryly delivering a joke, or musing on some newfound information, he’s always yelling. That never gets old, right?
RiD was a show made very silly for very young kids and not many others. Perhaps Megatron’s greatest failure then is being in a show that plays up the laughs while not actually delivering any himself.


8. Transformers: Cybertron (2005)
voiced by David Kaye
1st appearance: “Fallen”

Not a spectacular Megatron, but not a failure either. He displays more personality than both Energon and RiD Megatrons. In a comical scene with the ditzy Thunderblast he grudgingly allows her to join with him, but promises that he won’t cut her any slack just because she’s “cute.” Megatron’s most interesting scenes have him sharing screen-time with the leaders of other Cybertronian outposts throughout the galaxy. He is forced to race speed-obsessed Override to gain information. After losing he simply walks away rather than fighting it out. While visiting a wild jungle planet , Megatron reigns his temper in and abides by the law of the honorable but brtual Scourge.
Where Cybertron Megatron falls short is his nigh invincibility. No one except Optimus can come close to beating him, no matter how big or powerful. Megatron will triumph through sheer stubborness. It gets old quickly. A villain without any weaknesses does not make for tense or interesting fights.


7. Transformers: Armada (2002)
voiced by David Kaye
1st appearance: “First Encounter”

Technically this is the same Megatron as those in Energon and Cybertron, but what a world of difference there is between them. Like them, this Megatron started life as a simple-minded brute. He displayed little in the way of intelligence, preferring to turn every battle into a war of attrition.
Then about halfway through the 52 episode epic Megatron suddenly gets an infusion of memory and processing power! He starts thinking and displaying qualities that could be attributed to having a personality.
During the final arc of the show Megatron finally pulls his head out of his metal-plated aft and is made to see that an alliance with the Autobots is the only way to save their homeworld from total destruction. The planet-eater, Unicron, appears in orbit and Cybertron’s looking finger-licking-good. Realizing that Unicron is feeding off of the hatred between he and Optimus Prime, Megatron casts himself into the maw of the monster in order to help weaken it.
Though born stupid, Armada Megatron grew into a leader that learned to respect his troops and put the good of his people before his own personal quest for glory.


6. Transformers (2007)
voiced by Hugo Weaving
1st appearance: “Transformers”

Probably the most famous of all Megatrons thanks to Michael Bay’s trilogy of live-action movies. Benefitting from a massive budget, Weaving’s Megatron is animated better than any other Megatron. The hard PG-13 rating allows him to dole out death and carnage on a scale unseen in the cartoons. His schemes were grandiose, threatening the entire planet every time and he had some brief but meaty bits of characterization. So why does he rank only 6th on this list?
Looking strictly at the movies, he doesn’t actually do much. In part one he spends the entirety of the movie frozen and gets thawed out just in time to get killed by Sam Witwicky. In part two he spends all his time reporting to his fallen master. And when he’s not doing that, he’s getting his face blown off by Optimus. In part three he transforms into Hobotron and finds a dirty alley to mope in. He’s bummed out because his new boss, Sentinel Prime, is treating him like a bad employee.
Aesthetically I’m not a fan of the metal demon from Hell look. His hands and fingers are anorexic and feeble looking, his face looks more like a monster than a robot, and the rest of him looks like a towering jumble of metal bits that got spit out of an auto-shredder.
To his credit, he seemed genuinely committed to restoring Cybertron and making it habitable again. The scene in part three where he wearily says, “Cybertron. . . I saved you,” was one of the shortest, greatest scenes in the whole movie for me. His final scene where he beats his would-be master to within an inch of his life was simply grand. Weaving’s Megatron just barely claimed his right to the name in the 11th hour.


5. Transformers: Prime (2010)
voiced by Frank Welker
1st appearance: “Darkness Rising part 1"

This is the newest Megatron, and while Transformers: Prime is only 21 episodes in as of this writing, he’s had enough characterization that I can make a judgment on him. Frank Welker reprises the role that he defined with the original Megatron. Unlike his original incarnation, this Megatron is deathly serious all the time and has absolutely zero tolerance for smiling. There have been hints that he’s personable with some of the Decepticons off-scrren, but on-screen no one dares test his patience. He won’t be sitting around getting drunk and reminiscing about the good old days with his men. And rather than letting out a big ol’ belly laugh at his enemies plight, he’ll give you a silent, intense glare of hatred from his burning red optics in the darkness. This Megatron is truly something to be feared.
He shows no qualms about leaving behind troops that have fallen to enemies. By the same token, he welcomes back troops that have proven their worth. It’s still early in his career, but he’s off to a good start.


4. The Transformers (1984)
voiced by Frank Welker
1st appearance: “More Than Meets the Eye part 1"

The original Megatron. This guy set the standard for evil villains back in the 80s. To truly grasp his impact, you must journey back to 1984. Cartoon villains of that time were pedestrian. We had Snidely Whiplash and whatever monster Scooby and the gang were trying to unmask. Johnny Quest had a couple tribesmen shooting blow-darts at him. Some evil wizard that Thundarr the Barbarian had to fight.. Villains were forgettable and laughable.
Then Megatron showed up waving the Decepticon flag of conquest. The human race? Puny insects barely worth his attention. He didn’t care about conquering humans or ruling over Earth. He just wanted to strip the planet bare of all its resources and fuel his army to total victory over Cybertron.
How evil was the original Megatron? His greatest act as a villain, indeed the crescendo to his symphony of destruction, was killing the heroic Optimus Prime in “Transformers: The Movie” (1986) and ending the childhoods of thousands of children across the country. The anguished cries of kids were heard everywhere. Somewhere just off-screen Megatron was chuckling a sinister, evil chuckle, knowing what he had done.
On a personal level I like this version of Megatron more than most. He laughs, he gets drunk with his troops, he says, “Exxxcellent!” a lot while clenching his fist, and generally seems to enjoy screwing with Prime and the Autobots. In an attempt to make Megatron more scary and evil, other versions of the character have removed many of these traits. But it’s those very traits that make him so endearing all these years later.


3. Transformers: Animated (2007)
voiced by Corey Burton
1st appearance: “Transform and Roll Out”

Villain degradation is a symptom feared by all wtiters. It happens when the same villain shows up too frequently and always loses to the hero. After a while no one takes the villain seriously anymore and a bored audience waits for the villain to receive his next beating.
The Megatron of TF: Animated cleverly escaped this fate by being written at a disadvantage for the entirety of the first and third seasons of the show. First he was reduced to an immobile head and stripped of all his physical power. In this state he was forced to use his wits and guile to manipulate his enemies and stay one step ahead of everyone. When he did arrive on the scene, it was always cause for major panic and season cliffhangers.
Corey Burton was no stranger to voicing transformers, being the voice of the original Shockwave in 1984. In Animated he delivers one of the more unique takes on Megatron. Unlike his raving counterparts, Burton’s Megatron was not prone to outbursts of manic laughter, sudden cowardice, or fits of yelling. He was calm, controlled, and a calculating mastermind. His plans spanned the course of millions of years as his double agents worked their way into the highest levels of Autobot command. And while the Autobots have had a rally cry in the form of, “Transform and roll out,” since the beginning, the Decepticons have had nothing until Burton’s Megatron coined the phrase, “Decepticons, transform and rise up!”


2. Beast Machines (2000)
voiced by David Kaye
1st appearance: “The Reformatting”

The sequel to “Beast Wars” opens with Megatron in control of all of Cybertron. All life everywhere has been exterminated and now a planet-spanning army of mindless drones swarm the globe in search of any survivors. Megatron hardwires himself directly into the planet and controls everything. His single goal is to consume all the captured sparks (souls) of fallen transformers and ascend to demigod status. And he actually does it! Of course, a last second twist frees the sparks and sees Megatron destroyed.
Megatron was undoubtedly more successful in Beast Machines than he was in Beast Wars. He holds the spot at number two because while he accomplishes more than he did in “Beast Wars”, his time spent on a desolate Cybertron has made him less charming and aloof. He’s become colder and his sense of humor is much more dry and tempered. His hatred of organics consumes his time. During his stay on prehistoric Earth he had plenty to be mad about, but he always maintained this air of haughty superiority as though he couldn’t be bothered by the Maximals. Here, he’s so obsessed with them, that he can’t see straight. I think this Megatron needs people around to see how great he is. He can’t handle being alone.
So while he soars to new heights of conquest un-imagined previously, he’s lost some of the charm that made him so endearing during his run in “Beast Wars.”


1. Beast Wars (1996)
voiced by David Kaye
1st appearance: “Beast Wars part 1"

Frank Welker’s original Megatron set the bar in 1984, but David Kaye’s Megatron raised it to new heights in 1996 with Beast Wars. This is a guy that really enjoys his work. He’s charming, aloof, dangerously smart, has a sense of humor, and comes off more of an aristocrat than a warlord. He does spend a lot of time commanding from the safety of his base, but unlike Energon and RiD Megatron, he won’t shy away from a fight either.
Speaking of, his track record in fights is about as good as could be expected. I like that he’s not so ridiculously powerful that only Optimus can stack up against him. Not this guy. He’s big, he’s strong, but he’s just a robot like all the others. It brings him down to Earth and forces him to be smarter and more cunning. He knows he can’t win through brute force alone.
Simply put, he doesn’t have the resources. While all the other Megatrons have an army behind them, time-traveling BW Megatron becomes stranded on prehistoric Earth with four Predacons. Human civilization and technology are non-existent at this time, so Megatron’s stuck with whatever he brought in his broken down ship. Where he excels above all other Megatrons is his intelligence. He has back-up plans for everything and is constantly two steps ahead of his opponents.
Belying his intelligence, BW Megatron is a smooth talker. Whereas some Megatrons have a heavily synthesized voice and others snarl and talk like they were gargling gravel all morning, this classy cat’s voice puts him in league with James Bond’s villains. You almost expect to see him in a tuxedo and sipping a glass of fine wine while surveying a battle from a cliff side.
He’s the Megatron by which all others are now compared. He’s not the most powerful by a long shot, but he proves that a wise tyrant can do anything. Perhaps more importantly than that, he’s got an ocean’s worth of depth to his character. He’s easily the most interesting and most entertaining Megatron to watch. He is the best Megatron of all time!